


i'll be there, love

by maharieel



Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Massages, waking up together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-04
Updated: 2019-03-04
Packaged: 2019-11-09 04:41:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17995052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maharieel/pseuds/maharieel
Summary: waking up together, in the sun-soaked morning air





	i'll be there, love

She is awake long before dawn spills over Boralus harbour.

The sky is still dark through the crack between the curtains when she rolls over, the smell of wet dog still heavy in the air from the night before. The weather hadn’t been kind for the past few weeks and Natalya, try as Annika might, didn’t appreciate the notion of being cleaned. It isn’t an entirely unpleasant smell, not compared to the stench of fish and sweat that reeks from the docks in the early hours of the morning, or the odour of days-old blood that she’d become accustom to in the field, and so she can’t find it in her heart to mind.

Annika lies in bed for a moment longer, staring at the ceiling. Thinking. Planning. She’s due to head to Stormwind today and regardless of Anduin’s nature she knows she’ll be spilling blood somewhere by the end of the day for him. For all of them, if the reports from Darkshore are true. It should worry her. It doesn’t, anymore.

The mattress groans and dips beneath her. Turning she watches as John rolls over absentmindedly in his sleep, sheets kicked away in the heat. His hair falls over his brow at the action and she can’t help the warmth in her gut. He is an entirely different person like this, calm and smooth-edged. She wants to bask in the comfort of him beside her for the rest of the day, if only to delay the inevitable conflict she faces.

Her eyes catch on the scar that tears across his cheek, half lost in his beard. She almost reaches out to trace it. Wants to feel the warmth beneath it, the comfort. She settles for brushing his hair from his face instead, before slowly slipping from the bed with a soft smile on her face.

Natalya is awake instantly, ears high on her head as she follows Annika around the small space. She rubs her head against Annika’s thigh as she tugs on a loose undershirt, fur still half-damp but warm, nonetheless. She earns a scratch behind the ear for her effort.

Annika throws one last glance at John on the bed, almost bare and at ease in her space, before wandering out onto the balcony.

The summer air weighs heavy on her skin even as the sun begins to creep over the distant mountains. The back of her neck heats almost instantly beneath her hair, so she tugs it into a bun while positioning herself in one of the small chairs. Dockworkers already mill about below, shouting to each other in salt-strained voices. She almost wishes she was one of them, concerned only with the change of the tide and not the war raging on the horizon. She knows she wouldn’t survive such a mundane existence.

She sits alone in her little wood chair until the sun is half-way over the range in the distance. Then, the bed groans again inside and the sound of John searching for his pants echoes to her ears.

“You’re up early,” he mutters as he pads out onto the balcony beside her. Out of the corner of her eye she sees him try to fix his ruffled hair, to little avail.

Annika hums in agreement, sighing into the hot morning breeze. “Had a lot on my mind.”

John stretches beside her, back cracking in more than one place, before he is suddenly behind her with his hands on her shoulders. She feels herself melt back into his hands as they work roughly at her muscles. The warmth of him seeps through her bones and tugs away at the tense edges of her until she’s all-but leaning against him. He runs his hands lower, cupping her biceps and letting out a heavy breath into her hair that makes her sigh in return.

“Do you think they’ll do it?” She doesn’t have to ask to know what he means.

Annika closes her eyes, body loose in his hands. “I think Tyrande watched her home burn and then be overrun with enemy forces. I don’t think it really matters what Anduin says today.”

He finally releases her from his grip, slowly moving to sit in the chair across from hers. Natalya moves to sit at his feet and he absentmindedly rests his feet against her thick fur. “So Darkshore then?”

“It was going to happen eventually.”

“Do you think Anduin will support her?”

“No. He can’t afford such a divided front, not now.” A sigh. “It won’t stop her.”

John rubs at his eyes, exhaustion still heavy on his own shoulders. She’d order him back to bed if she could, would force him to stay in this bubble of peace they’ve somehow managed to craft for themselves until the shadows and resignation fade from him, but she knows he wouldn’t listen. Just like she wouldn’t if he asked the same of her. Neither of them gets to properly rest until the battles stop raging. If they ever do.

She has to believe they will, one day.

He yawns beside her, the freshly dawned sun turning his auburn-brown hair gold. “I’ll go with you then, see if I can’t get some information about the shit storm we’re about to walk into from some of the sentinels. I’m sure Feathermoon will be there. She’s bound to know something.”

Annika slowly stretches to her feet with a contented hum, hair falling loose from the bun she’d thrown it into. Wandering to John’s side, she plants a soft kiss on his brow between a few stray strands of hair, hand lingering on his shoulder after. He looks at her, flushed and warm.

“Thank you,” she says, barely a whisper. He simply smiles at her, such a rare sight for him, before clutching her hand where it rests against his shoulder and standing beside her. With an arm thrown around her shoulders, he guides them back into the comfort of the bedroom, if only for just a little while longer, and Annika basks in the quiet of it all.


End file.
